Z8 extremely unreliable/inconsistent AF in mildly low light
RoamingScott wrote:
The key point is that many folks have no issues here. What, then, do you propose are the variables between you and them if not your technique or settings? Getting indignant never fixes an issue.
I responded indignantly to am aggressive ad hominem comment - I'd prefer to keep things as objective as possible. In fact, the only reason I responded in this way is because the nature of this sort of comment makes it hard to actually address more objective aspects of things because it a priori rejects those things in favor of the thesis that the user is the problem.
This is why in an effort to speak objectively I have acknowledged that some report no problems of this nature, while also trying to stress that others do report the same problems. I'm not the only one with these experiences... others in this thread have said they have had the same experience. Others in the dpreview thread have also. There are plenty of other threads in the past reporting likewise. By coincidence I saw a post on a Z8 Facebook group reporting the same problem today, and a good number of people replied to the post that they had the same problems.
Snapsy has been running tests with photo and video demonstrations of the phenomenon.
Therefore I don't think it's at all logical to believe that the problem must be somehow particular to me. I also don't think it makes sense to say it's my settings as I really have tested every combination I can think of, including those people here have suggested.
Why, then, the difference? First, I think Ripolini's post has a lot of merit to it. I DO think and have increasingly suspected that there is a difference in the sorts of conditions/use cases people are shooting in. One thing I noticed days ago, for instance, is that people reporting fewer problems seemed to tend to report using generally wider shots in lower light whereas I don't use many wider shots. I had attributed this to greater DoF, whereas Snapsy suggests it may be the system focusing better at shorter focal lengths. That doesn't initially make sense to me, but regardless it's an angle to explore and seems to agree with my observation about the use cases of people having fewer problems. I have also noticed many who have reported no problems say they're always in AF-S, where it'll appears to work better. Still others use AF-C with a more immediate release rather than taking shots of a subject with focus held for a period of time.
I also wonder of it is possible there are simply variations in the hardware quality of the sensors across copies of the camera body. This would not be that unusual for this sort of technology. It may be that of the people with good success were to swap bodies with those with poor results that each would find their fortunes reversed.
What about technique? As I said before, if someone can suggest some technique problem which could be causing us to experience this problem on this camera model only then by all means I'd genuinely appreciate the suggestion of what to do differently.
But this is not just me having the problem, and when someone comments as though I am it is very unhelpful.
Z8 extremely unreliable/inconsistent AF in mildly low light
RoamingScott wrote:
The key point is that many folks have no issues here. What, then, do you propose are the variables between you and them if not your technique or settings? Getting indignant never fixes an issue.
I responded indignantly to am aggressive ad hominem comment - I'd prefer to keep things as objective as possible. In fact, the only reason I responded in this way is because the nature of this sort of comment makes it hard to actually address more objective aspects of things because it a priori rejects those things in favor of the thesis that the user is the problem.
This is why in an effort to speak objectively I have acknowledged that some report no problems of this nature, while also trying to stress that others do[/I] report the same problems. I'm not the only one with these experiences... others in this thread have said they have had the same experience. Others in the dpreview thread have also. There are plenty of other threads in the past reporting likewise. By coincidence I saw a post on a Z8 Facebook group reporting the same problem today, and a good number of people replied to the post that they had the same problems.
Snapsy has been running tests with photo and video demonstrations of the phenomenon.
Therefore I don't think it's at all logical to believe that the problem must be somehow particular to me. I also don't think it makes sense to say it's my settings as I really have tested every combination I can think of, including those people here have suggested.
Why, then, the difference? First, I think Ripolini's post has a lot of merit to it. I DO think and have increasingly suspected that there is a difference in the sorts of conditions/use cases people are shooting in. One thing I noticed days ago, for instance, is that people reporting fewer problems seemed to tend to report using generally wider shots in lower light whereas I don't use many wider shots. I had attributed this to greater DoF, whereas Snapsy suggests it may be the system focusing better at shorter focal lengths. That doesn't initially make sense to me, but regardless it's an angle to explore and seems to agree with my observation about the use cases of people having fewer problems. I have also noticed many who have reported no problems say they're always in AF-S, where it'll appears to work better. Still others use AF-C with a more immediate release rather than taking shots of a subject with focus held for a period of time.
I also wonder of it is possible there are simply variations in the hardware quality of the sensors across copies of the camera body. This would not be that unusual for this sort of technology. It may be that of the people with good success were to swap bodies with those with poor results that each would find their fortunes reversed.
What about technique? As I said before, if someone can suggest some technique problem which could be causing us to experience this problem on this camera model only then by all means I'd genuinely appreciate the suggestion of what to do differently.
But this is not just me having the problem, and when someone comments as though I am it is very unhelpful.
Re: Z8 extremely unreliable/inconsistent AF in mildly low light
RoamingScott wrote:
The key point is that many folks have no issues here. What, then, do you propose are the variables between you and them if not your technique or settings? Getting indignant never fixes an issue.
I responded indignantly to am aggressive ad hominem comment - I'd prefer to keep things as objective as possible. In fact, the only reason I responded in this way is because the nature of this sort of comment makes it hard to actually address more objective aspects of things because it a priori rejects those things in favor of the thesis that the user is the problem.
This is why in an effort to speak objectively I have acknowledged that some report no problems of this nature, while also trying to stress that others do[/I report the same problems. I'm not the only one with these experiences... others in this thread have said they have had the same experience. Others in the dpreview thread have also. There are plenty of other threads in the past reporting likewise. By coincidence I saw a post on a Z8 Facebook group reporting the same problem today, and a good number of people replied to the post that they had the same problems.
Snapsy has been running tests with photo and video demonstrations of the phenomenon.
Therefore I don't think it's at all logical to believe that the problem must be somehow particular to me. I also don't think it makes sense to say it's my settings as I really have tested every combination I can think of, including those people here have suggested.
Why, then, the difference? First, I think Ripolini's post has a lot of merit to it. I DO think and have increasingly suspected that there is a difference in the sorts of conditions/use cases people are shooting in. One thing I noticed days ago, for instance, is that people reporting fewer problems seemed to tend to report using generally wider shots in lower light whereas I don't use many wider shots. I had attributed this to greater DoF, whereas Snapsy suggests it may be the system focusing better at shorter focal lengths. That doesn't initially make sense to me, but regardless it's an angle to explore and seems to agree with my observation about the use cases of people having fewer problems. I have also noticed many who have reported no problems say they're always in AF-S, where it'll appears to work better. Still others use AF-C with a more immediate release rather than taking shots of a subject with focus held for a period of time.
I also wonder of it is possible there are simply variations in the hardware quality of the sensors across copies of the camera body. This would not be that unusual for this sort of technology. It may be that of the people with good success were to swap bodies with those with poor results that each would find their fortunes reversed.
What about technique? As I said before, if someone can suggest some technique problem which could be causing us to experience this problem on this camera model only then by all means I'd genuinely appreciate the suggestion of what to do differently.
But this is not just me having the problem, and when someone comments as though I am it is very unhelpful.
Apr 30, 2024 at 02:23 PM
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